The Rex House

This is my favorite music video.

2010-01-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

How bout them salmon?

2010-01-03T19:15:00.001-08:00

We had a great time with my family on their visit! We had a rough start, with them being stuck in DFW for two days, but they finally made it. My Dad was ready to get some sightseeing in, so as soon as we ate at the Screen Door, we headed to the coast. What a beautiful day it was!
Here we are standing at Ecola state park which was stunning at sunset.

My mom's hair is eating Ben's face :)
We went out to Cannon Beach during low tide and were able to walk really far out.
I was ill prepared for the weather, so I grabbed our old beach towel out of the car.
Finally. Christmas! Ben gave me some GORGEOUS emerald earrings (he cheated).

The cats really liked their tuna and balls of yarn, but mostly they liked the wrapping paper and bags.
EEK. Bobby girl, you are scary.
The next day we took my family out to the Gorge and hiked down to Bridal Falls. It started snowing.

Multnomah falls was iced over. I have a knack for picking the worst weather for outdoor outings.
Exhibit A. "Hey guys, lets go on a hike! We can see some Salmon at the Wildewood nature center. " It was raining. Hard.
Beautiful trees, beautiful river, very wet car ride home.
All and all I thought it went over well. It was kind of neat to have my family stay in our home for the first time since Ben and I have been married. My parents and brother sure had their share of adventures, one which included being stranded at a bus station during an impromptu snow storm and then HITCHHIKING with some lady and a guy with a van. This of course is after I assured them that nothing with the bus system ever goes wrong. Awesome. We'll let them tell you that story. We spent a nice New Years at home with the family, but Courtney and Aaron went to go see Pink Martini with his Aunt and Uncle and had a very glamorous evening. They looked really cute too. Pictures to come later. Happy New Year from the Rex House.

If you really love Christmas, come on and let is snow!

2009-12-20T09:43:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! Almost! I just wanted to post a few pictures of our house at Christmas time. Above is our beautiful tree. Ben and I bought it from the Catholic church down the street and were really stoked about having a real tree until we brought it home. The guys that were selling the Christmas trees had been smoking pipes and the tree stunk like a black and mild for the first three days. Awesome. Since then however, it has been pretty wonderful having this very large plant in our living room. The cats have not even tried to climb it!

I put up the lights all by myself. Our neighbors came by a few nights ago and gave us the Bob Dylan Christmas album because they thought our house looked so festive :)

Gandi loves Christmas.
Here are our stockings and a bunch of Christmas cards from all of you lovely people!
This is our living room. It has changed since most of our visitors have come and I really like the new set up.
Mushu hiding puzzle pieces.
This is our Christmas photo that you will probably not be receiving in a card this year. My ambitions are always so high at the beginning of the season, but they just never pan out. I'm sure you are shocked. Only a few more days til my parents and brother get here! HOORAY!

Kate and the coast

2009-12-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

Kate and I drove out to Ecola State Park for the day. The outlook where we were standing is the site of an old homestead. Can you imagine waking up every day and seeing this?

We wanted to hike down to Crescent Beach, but the waves were SO HUGE that I got freaked out. I decided that the very large, very wide Cannon Beach would be a better choice. I read an article about "sneaker" waves in this guide book I have, and I look at the coast a bit differently now.

See that bag in my hand? It is full of salt water taffy. We ate so much that I thought I was going to be sick.

Around this rock there are so many tidal pools. It was neat to see sea anemones so close up!

I don't know if you can make out the people in the picture, but they are going out to catch the surf. The water was so cold that day. So painful. I can't describe it.
Yeah for Kate!

Tree Lighting!

2009-12-08T19:37:00.001-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving, Portland lights the 75 foot tree in Pioneer Square. It was huge! And on a side note, Lindsay almost got arrested for jaywalking. Well not necessarily arrested, but yelled at by a policeman and then asked if she deserved a ticket. She told the policeman that she would rather not have that on her record. This really happened...jaywalking may be less accurate than let's say...walking into oncoming traffic because you weren't looking.
I had to include this picture because Ben's hair is sooooooooo long. He wants to donate it to locks of love soon. I don't want him to cut it all off. Does that make me a bad person?
After the lighting we went to the Deschutes brewery which turned out to be quite splendid.
Kate looks like she is a meercat.

Just in case you were wondering. I did not receive a ticket. I should have gone to law school.

Thanksgiving!

2009-12-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

The Rex House had one of the best Thanksgivings ever! It was really nice to be able to spend time with our crazy Portland family, and to eat the awesome spread. Kate was able to fly down and spend the week with us which made the holiday even better! Here are some pictures from the day.
Sam and Aaron (on our newish couch)
Michelle and Courtney. Michelle and Sam saved the day by bringing a table, three chairs, plates, wine AND the green bean casserole. We owe them big time.
This is our giant twenty pound turkey. It was awesome! Ben did a great job basting it every twenty minutes.
Kasey helped Ben carve the turkey
Ben tried to get Aaron to carve the turkey initially. Aaron, the only vegetarian in the house.
Jessica really helped make the gravy, without her we probably would have only had a cup for about fourteen people. With her we had a pitcher full. Literally.
David and Josh!
Kasey and Ben! Kasey made the most awesome sweet potato casserole that we have ever had.
The table set up.
My plate :)
Sam is holding the pitcher of gravy.

I love this picture of A and C!
Don't ask me what I'm doing with my hand. I have no idea.
Apples to apples!
Next up, Kate's visit!

Tanner and Lisa come and visit.

2009-11-30T15:29:00.000-08:00

Tanner and Lisa came to visit us a few months ago and I am just now getting a post up about it. We were so excited to find out that they are engaged! Above is Ben and Tanner digging into fried chicken and sweet potato waffles at the Screen Door. One of my favorite restaurants of all time.
Here is Ms. Lisa sitting at the Rose Garden
I really like that way that they have done the amphitheater here. Notice how green the grass is. This was taken in mid October!

The happy couple.

We decided that this looks like an album cover.

The fall color at the Japanese gardens was spectacular
Tanner and Ben. Long lost soul mates. I think here they are playing tomb raider.
We got out of the city and headed to the Gorge. It was just a short hike down to Bridal Falls.

YAY!

you must of been a beautiful baby...

2009-11-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!
Ben's Birthday beer from Rogue Breweries
Ben's birthday cheesecake from Elephant Deli. When I called to order this cheesecake, they were like "Turtle? That' s like caramel right?"
New Shoes.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!

Aaron made this awesome cake. It was delicious.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!

Look at his awesome rain jacket from Sharon and Lynn
The saucepan from his Mom is fabulous. I use it pretty much every day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! To many of the boys in our lives. The camera has been found, so brace yourselves for a blogging marathon the next few days.

The Grotto

2009-11-22T13:25:00.001-08:00

The Grotto, owned by the Catholic Church, is one of the strangest and most beautiful surprises that we have found in Portland. The Grotto encompasses over sixty acres, and is in the smack dab of northeast Portland. You can read more about its history here.
Ben and I both really like this statue of Jesus and Joseph. You don't see them together in artwork very much.
This is the Servite monastery.
May peace prevail on earth.
A view of the Peace garden.
Fabulous color!
St. Francis.
St. Peregrine, patron saint of cancer patients. There was a place that you could write the name of a loved one and place it in a bin to be offered up by the servite priests.
With the rainy season upon us, we are all trying to get outside as much as possible, even if it means traipsing through the rain to absorb as much sunlight as possible. I am trying to get it together and be more consistent with blogging, but since the lost camera has STILL not been found, it may be a bit spotty for the next month or so!

Short post until I find my camera...

2009-10-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hello! We are all alive and well, and super busy. I have lost the camera in the house somewhere so a much overdue photo blog will be coming next with pictures of Aaron's birthday party and Tanner and Lisa's visit! I will leave you with a ridiculous trailer for New Moon. Courtney, Ben and I have already purchase our tickets for the midnight release. Woot! Please don't judge us.

Suavie Island

2009-10-13T19:02:00.001-07:00

So Ben and I decided that this year we were going to go and pick our own pumpkins. Suavie Island is about thirty minutes away and is an agricultural community with lots of you pick it farms and wildlife reserves. The day that we went there was a great view of Mt. St Helens, Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams AND Mt. Ranier. Crazy.
Ben and I were a little snotty about the corn maze. We thought it would take us fifteen minutes tops and would end up being a waste of time. However. it took us 45 minutes to an hour to complete the maze and by the end of it I developed a healthy fear of corn fields and we had a bunch of fun trying to figure out the maze and dodge the adolescent boys that were running through it.

I don't know if you can see Ben's face very well in this picture, but this is right after we had been in the maze for twenty minutes and had just discovered that we had ended up at the start of the maze again.
We took a hayride out to the pumpkin fields!

Hooray! All in all it was a really fun date. We ended our visit to the pumpkin patch with a carmel apple and some kettle corn. delicious.

MY what a busy week we've had.

2009-10-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

This is what we come home to every day.
Is that your ridiculously expensive calculator you had to buy? Look at that smile!
Keep up the good work Court! Only a few more years and you'll be a physical therapist and able to pay for all of our rent. Hooray!
Look how long Ben's hair is?
This is my FAVORITE headband ever. Stevie and Kate got it for me.
Although, we don't have cable, ESPN 360 has been a God send for Ben this football season. Now he can watch two games at once! Oh goody.
Ben's been (hee hee) really busy with Farmer's basketball recently. In the two on two tournament he won second place! We decided to put the trophy on the mantel...for the week.
He really really loves me taking his picture.
The perfect way to end a week is to eat some awesome Thai food with friends.
Kasey and Ben, generally awesome. They will be more awesome if Kasey brings me over the pecan pie they made yesterday. Next post, Lindsay and Ben's trip to the pumpkin patch.

The Halls Butternut Squash Recipe.

2009-10-05T16:28:00.000-07:00

WHY does she do this?
This is a butternut squash. Lindsay and Josh sent us some squash seeds with our letter and this recipe. Since my cooking expertise is pretty limited to frozen foods, Courtney decided to give the recipe a try.
This is our lovely chef. I was the lovely sous chef that was mainly in charge of keeping the cats off the counters.

Turns out, this soup was AWESOME. Like liquid pumpkin pie awesome. I lucky to have such great friends.
Here is the recipe if you guys would like to try it out!

Butternut Squash Soup
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
-Cut 4-6 butternut squashes in half, remove the seeds. (we used 3 large squashes) Place each half face down on cookie sheet with thin layer of water
- Bake for 30min-1hour, until inside is soft
-Remove fruit from skins and puree
- Place pureee in pot over medium heat, and add cream until soup reaches desired consistency
-Add 1to 2 tablespoons of butter while still heating and stirring
- Add a handful of basil, half an onion, and 2-3 cloves of garlic (we sauteed these first)
- Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg to taste. Stir in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- While heating soup, toast bread, cut into small squares, at 250 degrees until crispy. These will be your croutons. Shred a dry cheese with cheese grater (we used parmesan)
- serve soup in bowls when ready, add croutons and cheese to taste.

Thanks Lindsay and Josh!

This animal is slightly terrifying.

2009-10-01T10:08:00.001-07:00

This is a bilby. Who knew they existed? It's like a mix between a rabbit and a rat/mole. Now we have all learned something today.

Our house. In the middle of our street.

2009-09-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

This is the Rex House. We lived between some Dead Heads and some organic gardeners. One of my favorite things about living here, is our street. We have everything from new homes like ours, to a yurt (seriously), to an architects home.
I am in love with this house. Obviously the iphone can't do it justice. You have to visit to get the full effect. They have a giant sunroom, or greenhouse, or something in their backyard.

Their chickens roam around the front yard. It's kind of one of those awkward situations where I'm not sure if this is something I should inform them of, or if this is something that's pretty normal. I mean, the rooster was almost hit by a bike.....
This is a studio of one of our other neighbors. Pretty cool huh? I really like that everyone is so friendly and laid back in our neighborhood. The Dead Heads sit out on the porch and listen to the band practice on Sundays. HOWEVER there is one thing that I do NOT like about this street. Enter exhibit A.

Oh sure he's pretty. But we have at least two of the roaming our street (i know right? crazy!). One of their favorite haunts is the roof of the house across the street from us. Well I guess the best way to explain their annoyance is for you to hear it yourself.

A study in Bobby behavior.

2009-09-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

BUT I just want to help you sort the mail!
How could you? (Have you ever seen a more sarcastic look? unbelievable.)
But I'm so cute!
I know you want to clean the shower, but...
You should really forget about doing laundry.

Or any type of work.
( This is the real reason why I don't get anything done.) - L

This explains so much.

2009-09-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

This is my closet.

This is Ben's closet

HEY YOU GUYS

2009-09-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Ah the Oregon Coast. It's either this. By the by, yes, this is the Goonies beach.

Or this....brrrrrr....
Here is the Rex House, resident photographer, Aaron. Anything that you see on here that looks cool is probably because of him.
The thing about the Oregon coast, is that the Alaskan current runs right along our occasionally sunny shores. Notice the lack of swim suits in all of the following pictures. It's like dream to me. So instead of swimming in the frigid waters, you sit around, build a fire and enjoy the day.

Visitors!

2009-09-18T16:36:00.001-07:00

The best thing about living in a cool place is that all your friends and family want to visit you. Here are just a few highlights from a very busy, and happy summer season. This first picture is a group of us that went to Crescent Beach, one of the most beautiful places in the world

Tanner and Jen came for a few months. We miss you guys!!
Andy. The trees are really really really tall here.
Andy using kelp as a lasso.
Stevie. We were lucky enough to have her come and stay for a few weeks. Come home soon!
John and Leslie came and stayed with us part of the time and then took a few days to go through some of the national parks in Washington. Here we are at the Screen Door which has a sweet potato waffle with fried chicken on top. Delicious. More on that later.
John with Mt. Rainer.
It was so much fun meeting Courtney's grandparents, Sharon and Lynn.

Thanks to everyone who made the trek out here this summer. We loved having everyone here! hYou guys made the transition to Oregon a little easier with every visit.

Fall Planting

2009-09-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

This is my yard. Portland is the greenest city I have ever been to, and we live in a house with a dirt yard. Ew.

That however is about to change! I went the Home Depot and bought three different types of bulbs to plant today.

I like the Ranunculus the most I think,

Planting is hard work!

This is one of the two stray cats that live in a three yard radius of us.
I swear, they can smell a sucker from a mile away.
Ben says I can't keep him. :(